Source: Dailypioneer.comBy Nazish HussainThe problem of poaching in the State is causing serious nuisance to the migratory birds. Seeing the dwindling numbers of these birds the State department of Forest and Wildlife has taken measures to combat this menace. “We are doing regular patrolling of the famous bird spots. A squad of 10 people checks poaching to conserve the habitat for migratory birds in the local areas. As compared the previous years poaching cases have reduced. Earlier the birds were being killed and meat was sold at a large scale. The problem is still exists but in lesser magnitude,” said DFO Hazaribagh, RN Mishra. Apart from the regular checking and patrolling, awareness campaigns are also being conducted by the department to educate people about the protection of these birds. Programmes such as International Birds Day on November 12, Wild life week on October 10 are celebrated by the Forest and Wildlife department to create awareness among people. “We get mixed response from people, not everyone is co operative. Every possible measure is being taken to get full support from people.” Every year the exotic birds coming from far-off Siberia and snow-caped Himalayan regions flock to the State. Numbers of different species of migratory birds come at the bird spots in Jharkhand in search of favorable climatic condition. The arrival of these birds starts from November and they stay here till March. The main bird areas in Jharkhand are Palamu, Hazaribagh and Udhwa. Bird sanctuaries in the sate have been the safe haven for the migratory birds like black winged common teal, green shank, white and citirine wagtail, northern pintail, gargely, common coot, mallard, pygmy goose, pochard, red crested pochard and combed duck. Kanke dam, Hatia dam, Getalsood dam have also been the resting place for the Trans Himalayan birds and the Siberian cranes in the Capital. “Over a period of time there has been a gradual decline in the number of these birds. The reason is these birds are changing their routes and now they are settling at isolated places because of the large scale human interference in the resting place of these birds. These birds identify their routes of travelling if there are changes in their way they lose the track to their destination,” said Nitish Priyadarshi a teacher of Geology in Ranchi University who is also a keen environmentalist. More....

Now on, the watchful eyes of foresters will be trained on the winged visitors from overseas that flock to Nalsarovar every year. The state forest department has decided to set up watchtowers near the bank in three villages where poaching has been rampant. Officials have also decided to allocate special funds to set up an information network for Nalsarovar, a Ramsar site.

Officials in Nalsarovar said that at meetings between senior officials on Monday, it was decided to have watchtowers in three sensitive villages - Darji, Ranagadh and Vekariya. These have sizeable populations and notorious for the poaching of birds. In all, about 9000 people in these villages hunt and eat wild animals.

The meeting was held after two people from Ranagadh village were caught with 60 coots that had been trapped and whose legs and wings were broken to keep them from escaping.

These watchtowers will be equipped with closed circuit cameras and in order to prevent damage, one hidden camera will also be installed to catch poachers who will manage to find the visible ones.

Sources in the department said that against the sanctioned strength of 12, there are just six staffers - including the deputy conservator of forests and assistant conservator of forests. With just half the sanctioned strength, officials have to keep watch over 1.5 lakh winged visitors and thousands of tourists to the wetland spread over 120.82 sq km.

"There are only three guards to secure the highly sensitive site, which has communities known for poaching living nearby," said a source. It was decided at the meeting that staff strength would be increased to ensure illegal activities are monitored efficiently. More....

A birding ground of international importance and home to several migratory birds, Nalsarovar should ideally have had a pride of place. The truth, however, is adverse. Recent arrest of poachers has laid bare Nal's open secret and brought to light the apathy with which the site is treated. Smitha R reports.

Staff crunch Spread over 120 square km, the marshes of Nal can be difficult to patrol. But patrolling is made all the more difficult by the fact that the forest department that takes care of the sanctuary lacks manpower to effectively man the area. In fact, the sanctuary has just 35% of the sanctioned staff strength. At present there are just three guards and three foresters to look after the entire site. “Of this, two are quite old and we can’t expect them to run around. So effectively we are making do with just four of them. And it is humanly impossible to keep an eye on every part of the sanctuary with just four people,” said Sasi Kumar, DCF Nal Sarovar. Ideally, for every 10 sq km there should be one person, said Kumar, adding that patrolling can be made more effective even if Nal gets just its sanctioned strength — of eight guards — six foresters and two rangers. It should, however, be noted that these posts haven’t been filled for long. And, that is not all. The forest officials even lack adequate equipment to go after the poachers. “There are some watchtowers but what use are they when the guards don’t have binoculars. Till sometime ago the guards wouldn’t even get their salaries on time,” said a bird expert who has closely worked in Nalsarovar and with the forest department as well. A forest guard whom DNA talked to said that the poachers are locals who also happen to be expert rowers. “First we lack adequate boats. Suppose we manage to get on to one, we can’t chase them because they are experts while we aren’t good at it. Neither do we have people who can row for us,” said the guard matter of fact.Fund crunchLack of funds to carry out effective strategies that may dissuade the poachers is another problem. Investigation into the recent poaching incident — in which, 60 live coots were recovered from two traders — took the forest department officials into the marshes and the tall grass that grow there. There they found several bird carcasses pointing to the fact that poaching had been going on for long. More....